Wrath of the Fallen by Eve Archer

Wrath of the Fallen: A Devilish Fated Mates Paranormal Romance

Dark Fallen Angels #3

Chapter One

Ella

My ears rang as I stared at the white-winged creature who stood across from me. He was flanked by two other males, both with huge, outstretched wings feathered as white as the moon glowing high in the sky. The stone ramparts of the castle towered behind them, and party guests in black tuxedos and matching black wings drifted from within the fortress to enclose them from behind.

Although the figure in the middle sported massive, feathered wings and was shirtless, his broad chest well-muscled and gleaming in the radiant white light streaming from the sky above, I recognized him as my godfather. At least, he was who I’d thought was my godfather.

It had been years since I’d seen him, and my memories from childhood were hazy, but he had the same wavy, brown hair and intense green eyes that I remembered from my encounters with him when I was young. And he hadn’t aged a day. My gaze wandered to the impressive wingspan fanning out behind him. Which made sense, if he was actually an angel and not a man.

I gave my head a small shake as I slid my eyes back to his face, not quite sure of what I’d heard. Had he called me his daughter? No. I must have misheard. My life might have officially spun out of control, and I might be dating a fallen angel who was also a mob boss, but no way was I the daughter of an angel.

“Gabe?” I repeated. “Is that you?”

Dominick shifted so that one of his dark wings blocked me, and all the fallen angels who’d rushed from the castle when the angels had swooped down into the open-air courtyard moved closer, the ring around the three brawny, bare-chested angels shrinking. I wasn’t sure if Dominick’s protective stance was to keep me from getting to Gabe or him to me. He didn’t need to worry. I had no intention of running to the angel. Gabe might have been my godfather, but I’d always been a little intimidated by him and a bit scared. He and my mother had argued, after all, and then I’d never seen him again.

A night breeze passed through, ruffling the blinding white feathers of the intruding angels as well as the inky black feathers of the fallen angels. It carried the scent of the lush flowers decorating the party, making my nose twitch and reminding me that this was intended to be a celebration of repelling the demon attack. The arrival of new winged creatures made the air crackle with tension, the background music gone and the only sounds that of heavy breathing. Even the sentry Fallen who’d been patrolling the skies had swooped down when the angels had appeared, so wings no longer flitted across the orb of the moon.

“You look well, Ella.” Gabe’s voice was as smooth and deep as I remembered. “It’s been a long time.”

I almost laughed, but didn’t, nerves sending tingles across my flesh. “Twenty years.”

He didn’t respond to that. He only stared at me; his expression almost curious. “I can see your mother in you.”

I swallowed hard, pushing away the thoughts of my parents that always stung with fresh pain. “I don’t understand. You’re…”

“The archangel Gabriel,” Dominick growled.

I snapped my head to him as a whispered curse escaped Sara’s lips. “What?”

Gabe inclined his head at Dominick, his eyes glittering. “Semyaza is correct. I am called Gabriel by our Father, but you may continue to call me Gabe, if you like.”

I gaped at him. Despite seeing the wings that appeared to sprout from his back, my mind couldn’t wrap itself around the fact that my godfather was an angel. Not only an angel, but an archangel. The archangel Gabriel. A wave of nausea swept through me, and I clutched a hand to my stomach, doubling over.

Instantly, Sara’s hand was on my back. “You okay, El?”

I pressed my lips together, too afraid to speak, for fear I’d hurl all over my designer dress and pricey shoes. There was no way this was happening. I might have accepted Dominick being a fallen angel, but now my godfather was an angel too?

Dominick shifted toward me, although his battle-ready stance didn’t change. “What do you want, Gabriel?”

“Like I said, I’ve come for my daughter.”

Dominick scoffed at this, and a dark rumbling passed through the Fallen who’d gathered around the courtyard. “You expect me to believe that Gabriel, the most self-righteous of all God’s emissaries, fathered a child with a human?”

I straightened and sucked in the cool, night air, my gaze on Gabe. This was his chance to correct himself and admit that he was only my godfather, like I’d always been told.

The angel’s jaw tightened. “I expect you to know I have no reason to lie.”

“I believe you would say or do anything to punish me.”

Gabe shook his head slowly at Dominick. “You still think this is about me punishing you and your followers? Your punishment has nothing to do with me. It never did. It was always what you brought upon yourself by disobedience.”

Dom flexed his wings and took a step forward. “A punishment you relished imposing. You all did.”

Gabe glanced at the two angels flanking him. “I assure you that Raphael and Uriel took no more pleasure in it than I did.”

Now Rami made a derisive noise in the back of his throat, and I noticed for the first time how he stood a bit in front of Sara, his wings shielding her. The Fallen who’d gathered all had their black wings out and their faces set in a combination of both concentration and rage. I almost admired Gabe and his angel friends for not turning tail and flying away amid such obvious malice.

“But you do remember why you cast us out, don’t you?” Dominick asked, his voice humming with fury.

Gabe flinched slightly. “It wasn’t only the human women. You also defied God by teaching the humans things they were forbidden to know.”

Dominick’s scowl deepened. “That is something I don’t miss. How much is forbidden just to provide another test?” He cocked his head at Gabe. “A test you’re now claiming you eventually failed yourself?”

Gabe’s handsome face spasmed, but he merely clasped his hands in front of himself.

“So, I am your daughter?” I asked, finding my voice and stepping forward.

“Yes,” Gabe said, while Dominick simultaneously shook his head.

“And my parents?”

Gabe’s expression softened. “Your mother was your mother, and your father served as the Earthly father I never could.”

Sara moved closer to me, shifting the hand that had been on my back to wrap around my waist for support. It was a good thing too, because my knees were about to buckle.

“Did my mother know,” I waved a hand at him, “who you were?”

“Not at first, but I had to tell her when she was carrying you.”

Even though he was talking about my conception, it felt far removed from me—as if we were discussing a stranger. It was all too far-fetched to truly comprehend.

“Did she believe you?”

“Not right away.”

I could only imagine my mother had felt some of the same disbelief and shock I was experiencing, mixed in with some serious amounts of betrayal. But I also suspected it hadn’t taken much more than a glimpse of his wings to convince her, just like Dominick’s wings had been the thing that had convinced me. It was impossible to fake enormous wings bursting from your back.

I took a steadying breath. “And my father? Did he know I wasn’t his?” My voice broke on the last word, and Sara held me tighter.

Gabe shook his head. “No. You were always his. Your mother insisted on it.”

I released a breath, almost gasping. It was painful enough to think of my mother keeping such a secret from me, but I didn’t think I could have handled deception from both of my parents. Although this meant that my mother had lied to my father for years. Their miracle baby hadn’t been so much of a miracle, as a tangle of lies.

Dominick cocked his head at Gabe. “You want me to believe that after all this time, you were tempted by a human?”

Gabe closed his eyes for a beat. “Ella’s mother wasn’t just a human. She was a human with her own angelic mark. I’d saved her when she was a teenager.”

“But the archangels almost never visit the Earthly realm anymore,” Rami said, his gaze shifting from one archangel to the next, as if he still couldn’t believe they were there.

Gabe shrugged one shoulder. “Ella’s mother was shot by a serial killer, who was roaming the country murdering beautiful girls with long hair. The evil made me sick, and I hated that we couldn’t interfere with mankind’s free will.” He gestured to the other angels. “We all did. When I saw that a victim hadn’t been killed instantly and had a chance of surviving, I couldn’t stop myself. I saved her.”

I realized I’d stopped breathing as he spoke, and I finally loosed a breath as memories flooded my mind of my mother’s scar, the round patch of puckered skin on her chest that had fascinated me, and she always kept hidden under high-necked sweaters and buttoned up shirts.

“After that, I kept an eye on her,” Gabe dropped his gaze.

“Because of the prophecy,” Dominick said, “because you feared the Fallen finding her. She was a female with an angelic mark after all.”

Gabe shook his head with surprising intensity. “I’d grown to care about her. I wanted to make sure she had a good life after surviving such horror.”

“And she was beautiful,” I said, thinking back to my pictures I’d seen of my mother when she was young. Her long, strawberry-blonde hair and blue eyes would have made her look at home in any Ralph Lauren ad.

“More than beautiful,” Gabe whispered, “she was intriguing and clever and funny. I’d never known humans could be so captivating.”

“You archangels should get out more,” Rami said, dryly.

Gabe frowned but ignored the comment. “I tried to give her up so many times, but I couldn’t. She tried to end things with me as well, but we were always pulled back to each other.”

“You loved her,” I said, the fact hitting me like a brick. The arguments I’d witnessed between Gabe and my mother weren’t because she feared him—she feared losing him. I could now recognize the desperate look of being so lost in love you didn’t think you could breathe without the other person.

Gabe nodded. “But we could never be together the way we wanted, and your mother felt that me popping in and out of your life was disruptive. That and she hated deceiving your father. So, she asked me to stop visiting. Then she disappeared.”

“We moved not long after that argument you two had in the park,” I said, “and I never saw you again. Until now.”

“I honored your mother’s wishes. I didn’t look for you. It was easier for me that way as well.”

Anger flared inside me. My parents had been dead for years, and I’d been on my own, with no family aside from Sara. I folded my arms across my chest. “I’ll bet it was. So why show up now, Dad?”

Dominick and Rami both swiveled their heads to me, and Gabe’s eyebrow lifted.

“I’m here now to save you, Gabriella,” he said in measured tones nothing like my own snarky words. “You’re a Demi-angel. You cannot be the mate of one of the Fallen.”

I stepped closer to Dominick and slid my hand in his. “Well, too bad. I love Dominick, and there’s nothing you can do to change that.”

Gabe’s kind expression vanished, replaced by one of wrath. “That’s where you’re wrong, daughter.”